Astros collapse in stretch run

Let Central title slip away, losing 6 of last 8 games

Brewers 5, Astros 2

September 28, 2003|By John Mullin, Tribune staff reporter.

HOUSTON — When the Cubs watched their pennant hopes die in 1969, they took solace in knowing the Mets had played spectacularly down the stretch and it wasn't strictly a matter of the Cubs coughing it up. The Houston Astros cannot rationalize this season's failure so conveniently.

Houston's hopes for a fifth National League Central title in seven years ended with a final collapse Saturday when they lost to the Milwaukee Brewers 5-2 as the Cubs were sweeping a double-header from the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Astros bottomed out by falling for the second day in a row and losing six of their last eight games.

"It's not going to be comforting in the off-season knowing we had a chance to play in October and let these slip away," All-Star closer Billy Wagner said.

"It's difficult to handle," second baseman Jeff Kent said quietly.

For a veteran team with 14 players 30 or older, "it's disappointing," general manager Gerry Hunsicker said. "It's hard to explain and it's even harder to accept that we played poorly, especially this week. When you need to kick it in down the homestretch, it just wasn't there for us."

It was the Astros, not the lowly Brewers, who for a second straight critical game played like a group with one eye on the field and the other on its tee times. Every time the scoreboard revealed that the Cubs had raised their game, the Astros seemed to lower theirs. For example:

- Cubs score two runs in the fourth; Astros go three up, three down in the fifth, the first time they had done that all day.

- Cubs score two in the fifth; Astros pitchers allow five straight hits in the sixth, starting with Wes Helms' 23rd home run, and three runs after two outs.

And when the Cubs weren't scoring, the Astros kept busy by leaving eight men on base, including three in scoring position.

Houston scored once in the first. But it was a portent when the Astros loaded the bases with one out and failed to score any more. Their only other offense was Morgan Ensberg's 25th home run in the seventh inning. By that time the Brewers had scored two in the third and three in the sixth, all with two outs.

"It doesn't always work out the way you want it to," manager Jimy Williams said. "That's why you play the games. They got hits with two out, and we didn't."

The Astros, who made three errors in Friday's 12-5 loss to Milwaukee, continued to make mental as well as physical mistakes. Center fielder Craig Biggio dove at a sinking line drive by Scott Podsednik with two outs in the third inning, an ill-fated gamble that turned a single into a triple and scored Milwaukee's first run.

Ensberg fielded Bill Hall's grounder in the hole, then wildly overthrew first despite having no chance at getting the speedy Hall, who was credited with an RBI for Milwaukee's second run.

The Brewers broke the game open in the sixth when Helms homered with two outs. Then came singles by Eddie Perez, Royce Clayton and winning pitcher Wes Obermueller (2-5) and a double by Podsednik, who had two doubles and a triple as he continued to build his case for National League Rookie of the Year.

The Astros put two on in their half of the sixth with one out and failed to score. From then on, with the exception of Ensberg's home run, the Astros went quietly and were left groping for positives.

"A lot of things went right this year for things to go wrong at this point," Williams said.